Ascended Better Dinos
Surviving the Island, Scorched Earth, or any of the other unforgiving maps in ARK: Survival Ascended demands every advantage you can muster. While the base game offers a solid roster of creatures, many veterans feel that some dinos are left underutilized or simply lack the flair they deserve. Enter Ascended Better Dinos, a comprehensive mod that reworks and enhances a wide variety of vanilla creatures, transforming them into more viable, interesting, and powerful allies. This isn't just a stat tweak; it's a full-scale overhaul that breathes new life into your tames.
What Does Ascended Better Dinos Change?
This mod focuses on adding unique, functional abilities to creatures that often get overlooked. Instead of just boosting numbers, it introduces new mechanics, resource drops, and quality-of-life features that make each dino feel special. The goal is to make you reconsider your taming priorities and experiment with new strategies.
Key Dino Enhancements and New Abilities
The changes are extensive and cover a diverse range of creatures. Here are some of the standout improvements you can expect when you download Ascended Better Dinos:
- Achatina: Now consumes berries and veggies when tamed, making them much easier to manage for cementing paste production.
- Ankylosaurus: Gains significant weight reductions for crystal and obsidian, and can continue harvesting even when its inventory is full. It also returns 10% of melee damage inflicted back to the attacker.
- Archaeopteryx: Becomes a true utility mount. It leaves your hands free for weapons, acts as a parachute, allows for double jumps, and even provides a helpful on-screen command guide. It also has a 50% weight reduction for all items in its inventory.
- Doedicurus: Adds a new bite attack that can harvest berries and has a 75% weight reduction for sand. Like the Ankylo, it can keep harvesting even when over-encumbered.
- Managarmr: A major overhaul that removes the limits on jumps, strafes, and dashes, making them reliant on stamina instead. Server admins can even configure these values via INI settings.
- Mosasaurus: Can now rotate up and down while swimming, offering much better maneuverability in the water.
- Onyc: Can be picked up and worn on your back, allowing you to harvest Blood Packs from creatures and craft a unique Sanguine Elixir.
- Spino: Removes the oxygen stat entirely, increases swimming speed by 40%, and allows for Y-axis rotation in the water, making it a supreme aquatic predator.
These are just a few examples. The mod also enhances creatures like the Castoroides, Daeodon, Mantis, and Rhyniognatha, ensuring that almost every dino has a purpose. For those looking for a streamlined experience, the foxygame.net launcher simplifies the process of adding this mod to your setup. Its built-in add-on catalog lets you find and install Ascended Better Dinos with a single click, ensuring you get the correct version for your game build without the hassle of manual downloads. This is a great way to manage your mods and keep them updated automatically, so you can focus on the survival aspect of the game.
New Resources and Items
Beyond creature changes, Ascended Better Dinos for ARK: Survival Ascended introduces new resources to the game. Many creatures now drop Insect Meat or Swine Meat when harvested, providing new food sources for your carnivores. The mod also adds a craftable Sanguine Elixir, created in the Onyc's inventory, which likely offers unique buffs or healing properties. These additions enrich the game's economy and provide more reasons to hunt specific creatures.
How to Install Ascended Better Dinos
Getting started with this mod is straightforward, but understanding how to install it correctly is key to a smooth experience. The mod is designed to work with the current version of ARK: Survival Ascended, and it's crucial to ensure your game and mod versions are compatible. Always check the mod's official Discord or description page for the latest updates and compatibility notes.
To convert your existing tamed vanilla dinos to their ABD versions, you can use the in-game command summontamed followed by the creature's specific ABD blueprint path. For example, to get a tamed ABD Ankylo, you would use cheat summontamed Ankylo_Character_BP_ABD_C. Alternatively, server admins can use the destroywilddinos command to replace all current map spawns with the mod's versions, ensuring that wild dinos are also enhanced. For server owners, the foxygame.net launcher offers robust version compatibility checks, helping you avoid conflicts between Ascended Better Dinos and other mods in your load order. Its auto-update feature ensures you're always running the latest patch, which is essential for maintaining a stable multiplayer experience.
Is Ascended Better Dinos Right for You?
If you are a player who loves the creature variety in ARK but wishes the tames were more useful and distinct, then this mod is a perfect fit. It adds depth without overwhelming complexity, and the improvements are meaningful and noticeable. From the versatile Archaeopteryx to the powerful Spino, every change feels like a thoughtful enhancement. Whether you're a solo survivor or running a dedicated server, Ascended Better Dinos is a high-quality addition that will change the way you play. It revitalizes the creature roster, encourages new taming strategies, and adds a layer of depth that makes the world of ARK: Survival Ascended feel fresh and exciting again.